on being a cat.......

When Rachel was a little girl I was amazed daily by her imagination and the way her mind worked because it was so clearly different from mine. I was always very grounded in reality. I have always been very aware of rules and boundaries and how they applied to me and have tried to remain carefully on the right side of them.

Rachel had this huge imagination, seeing life in colors and ideas I never even fathomed. She missed the boundaries, not because she willfully crossed them but because, boundary? what boundary? she didn't even know they were there.

One day we were in a toddler/mom stand-off and I came back with the classic "Because I am the mother!" and she flared right back, hands on hips "Well, I am Da Rachel!"

Carly was much like me, having a firm hold on reality and so Rachel was this complete new experience for me. And it was so much fun.

(Most of the time)

When she was about to turn 3 yrs old we started potty-training efforts. Carly had been an easy 3 day effort. After 3 days there was an occasional accident if she got playing too hard and waited too long but it was rare and so I thought that this easy 3 day effort was the potty-training norm. I had 4 more babies prove that Carly was the exception, not the rule. I feel bad now, having that experienced knowledge because I was a little impatient with Rachel who came right after Carly.

One day I was changing her diaper, trying to interest her in being more grown-up, wearing panties and keeping them dry, etc. I was trying to use a little psychology on her.......

me: "Rachel; Babies wear diapers and big girls wear panties. Do you want to be a baby or a big girl????

Rachel: "I want to be a cat! Meow...."

well it's taken a few years

Rachel's jr. high choir was invited to participate in "An evening with Andrew Lloyd Webber" at a local high school. This was a huge production, more than a choir performance. Costumes and some dancing and some acting. It was pretty intense this last week, lots of rehearsal after school and 3 performances over Friday and Saturday but she had a great time. She needed to dress up like a cat and all on her own got an old pair of pajama pants and cut them up and got out my sewing machine and sewed little legwarmer bits and armwarmer bits. It was fun to see her so self-sufficient. She was so proud of her efforts and what she did all on her own. She got really into doing her cat makeup the last night of rehearsal and during the performances. She wondered if she had done a good job and her ego was fed a little bit as others asked them do do theirs after seeing her. She felt good about that. Her hair was big! I was able to go last night to the final performance and she was the cutest cat there! She was so expressive and into it and I loved watching her as I always do.

She continues to amaze and astound me.

She is, after all

Da Rachel!